Former police chief cleared

Former Arcade police Chief Dennis Bell has been cleared of a ticket-fixing accusation that spurred a six-month state investigation and prompted Bell to resign from the post he had held for 10 years.

"It feels good," Bell said. "I can start to move on with my life."

Jackson County District Attorney Rick Bridgeman said Tuesday that he had closed his file on Bell after a six-month probe by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation turned up no evidence to back up an accusation that Bell had destroyed the original documents in a 2006 DUI case.

Bell resigned from his post as chief in November after the Arcade City Council received an anonymous letter from a disgruntled former employee accusing the police chief of fixing traffic tickets and falsifying his time cards. The council's internal investigation found that most of the allegations were unfounded, but council members asked that the GBI to look into one charge - that Bell disposed of citations in the DUI case.

Bridgeman sent a letter to GBI agents Monday explaining that there was no basis for a case against Bell and that he had no charges to bring before a Jackson County Grand Jury.

After his resignation, Bell moved to Toccoa and took a job with the Franklin Springs Police Department. He plans to run for the office of coroner in Stephens County this year.

MULTIMEDIA

PDF: Read the DA's letter to the GBI:

View document

(120k)

While the last six months have been tense, he said, he holds no ill will toward the Arcade City Council.

"If you don't have anything to hide, you don't mind being investigated," he said. "I don't have any ill will against the mayor or the council, you know. They were doing what they were supposed to do. It's their job to make sure the people of the city were safe and everything was run the way it was supposed to be."

He appreciates the support he has received from the people of Arcade, Bell said.

"I've had so many letters and phone calls telling us to hang in there - not just from people in Arcade but from all over Jackson County," Bell said.